One treatment for morbid obesity is bariatric surgery which involves alteration of a patient's digestive tract to encourage weight loss and to help maintain a normal weight. A common type of bariatric surgery is gastric bypass surgery, which aims to decrease the size of a patient's stomach by dividing it into upper and lower pouches using staples and/or stitches. The jejunum (the middle section of the small intestine) is also divided into two parts. One part of the jejunum, called the “Roux limb,” is brought up behind the colon and lower stomach pouch, and joined or “anastamosed” to the upper stomach pouch. The remaining end of the jejunum is attached to the side of the Roux limb. As a result, a new digestive pathway is created through which food travels down the esophagus, into the upper stomach pouch, and through the anastomosis (or stoma) into the Roux limb. Digestive juices from the stomach, the liver, and the pancreas travel through the lower stomach pouch, down the duodenum and jejunum, and into the Roux limb where the two parts of the jejunum are attached and further digestion takes place.
While effective, gastric bypass surgery is not without complications. For example, the stoma may dilate over time, allowing a patient to eat more and causing them to gain weight. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved devices and methods for bariatric surgery, and in particular, for devices and methods for reducing the size of a stoma.